Experimental study of the effect of nanomaterials on the thermal, magnetic, and corrosion properties of aluminium and copper tubes in solar collector system

Solar collectors are currently widely used to harness solar energy in various applications to achieve sustainable development goals. Solar collectors suffer from persistent corrosion of copper and aluminium tubes due to exposure to air and oxidation. Also the increasing of the thermal conductivity of the fluids using highly conductive nanomaterials. This investigation examined the effect of the utilization of magnetic fluids on the corrosion of flat plate collectors made of aluminium and copper. The outcomes of thermal conductivity tests indicated that the thermal conductivity of graphene-based nano fluids was 23.1% greater than the thermal conductivity of water (concentrated of 0.1%vol., temperature 50 °C). The thermal conductivity of the nanofluids containing carbon nanotubes was also increased by 33.44% compared to the water thermal conductivity (0.1% vol. temperature 50 °C). The outcomes of the solar collector's tube corrosion experiments demonstrated that the corrosion potentials of aluminium samples in base fluid, G+Fe3O4 nanofluid and CNT+ Fe3O4 nanofluid were all negative, which were: 0.95, 0.85 and 0.84, respectively. This demonstrates that the corrosion resistance of aluminium tubes in solar collectors in G+ Fe3O4 and CNT+ Fe3O4 fluid samples was enhanced by 14.32% and 15.03%, respectively, compared to water. The corrosion potentials of copper samples in base fluid, G+ Fe3O4 nanofluid and CNT+ Fe3O4 nanofluid are -0.82679, 0.77224 and 0.77058, respectively. This implies that the corrosion resistance of solar collectors made of copper in G+ Fe3O4 and CNT+ Fe3O4 is increased by 6.598% and 6.799%, respectively, compared to water.